Filler for cigar lighters



July 24, 1928.

A. L. WALLAU FILLER FOR cram LIGHTERS Filed Feb. 21, 1927 INVENTOR. I W do t/Mew BY 91,444; a W

ATTORNEYS.

Patented July 24, 1928.

PATENT GFFICE.

ALEXANDER LEE WALLAU, OF CEDAR-HURST, NEW YORK.

FILLER FOR CIGAR LIGHTER-S.

Application filed February 21, 1927. Serial No. 169,899.

This invention relates to cigar lighters and the like and more particularly to instrumentalities for filling them with a combustible. liquid.

The commercial type of cigar lighters comprising awick extending into an; inflammable liquid with a pyrophoric alloy sparkv producing mechanism operate quite satisfactorily so long as they are filled with certain selected liquids. such, for example, as benzene. The quantity required to till the lighter is quite smallin the neighborhood of three quarters of an ounce and the in flammable: liquids are not usually at hand when refilling is required. Furthermore,

the liquid is kept absorbed in an absorbent medium and itrequires a certain material length of time to saturate it- It is therefore a considerable nuisance tofill these lighters by hand, as it requires that the liquid .be furnished to the absorbent almost drop by drop and when the: filling is completed quite a surplus liquid is, left in the reservoir of the lighter, which will thereafter spill out objectionably unless previously drained- It is anobject of this invention to provide a device in accordance with which such articles may be readily filled with liquid in a practical and eflicient manner. It is a further object to provide such a device which will be sensitive to operate only in the presence of the'article to be'filled, so that the liquid, will not be needlessly wasted. It is a further object to produce a device which will be made in ornamental and attractive form for display upon cigar stands and the like and in which the operating parts will be sufliciently visible to excite curiosity and stimulate interest.

It is a further object to produce such a device that the lighter will be completely filled, but that will only consume the amount of liquid wvhichis required for actually A? filling the lighter The invention accordingly comprises the features of construction, combinations of elements, and arrangement of parts which will be exemplified in the construction here- I inatter set. forth and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the claims.

For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention reference should i be had to the following detailed description lines.

taken in connection with the accompanying drawing in which:

Figure 1 is a vertical, sectional view of the device along the lines 11 of F igure 2 and Figure 2 is a vertical section along the lines 22 of Fig. 1.

Figure 8 is av top plan view ready for the application of the lighter.

Figures l, 5, 6 and 7 are details of a valve control.

In the drawings the numeral 1 comprises a body portion supported on a base 2 adapted to rest upon a stand of a cigar store. The body portion comprises, generally, a liquid reservoir 3, a valve compartment 4: and a coin-control mechanism 5. A convenient method of insuring that the lighter shall be completely filled with liquid without the embodiment of the invention herein disclosed. To accomplish this result there is mounted in the body portion 1 a shaft 10 carrying a casing 11 having attached thereto a. stem 12 carrying a nipple 13 for the reception of thelighter 14:. The shaft 10 may have an operating handle 15 and this construction issuch that when the handle 15 is rotated one half revolution the stem, nipple and lighter are carried from the inverted position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2 downwardly about the axis oi the shaft 10 to..,thereverted position within the valve compartment, as shown in. Fig. l in dotted The casing 11 includes an operating mechanism which communicates with the liquid within the reservoir 3 by an orifice l6 and communicates with the interior of the lighter 14 through the bore of the stem 12. This valve is arranged to open communication between the reservoir and the lighter when the lighter is in the completely reverted position, but to maintain this communication open during the reinvcr.;:ion of the lighter until the lighter has again passed aboventhe liquid level and subsequently ,to

til

close that communication when the lighter is completely inverted. The mechanism for accomplishing this, as herein illustrated, is as follows A disk 17 journalled upon the shaft 27 fits within a boss 18 on the inner side wall of the reservoir within the valve casing. This disk 17 has its outer face mating with the side wall on the interior of the boss to form a liquid-tight joint. The inner face of the orifice 16 serves as a valve port and the disk 17 carries an opening 19 arranged to 000p erate with the port 16 when in one position and to close the same when the disk is partly rotated. The disk 17 carries a depending arm 20 in position to be engaged by the lighter when the lighter isin almost the completely reverted position. Thereafter the continued rotation of the handle 15 to the completed reverted position will rotate the disk 17 to bring the port 19 into cooperation with. the port 16 to open the valve. A plate 21 fits upon the shaft 27 but is held from rotation by lugs 22 fitting in recesses 23 in the boss 18. This plate carries a substantially semicircular slot 24 adapted to afford comn'iunication between the port 19 and'the lighter at all times during the reversion and inversion of the same. The casing 11 has a port 25 in direct communication with the bore of the stem 12 and arranged to be at all times in connnunication with the semi-circular slot 24. The casing 11 may be threaded upon its interior, as shown at 26. to enable it to be connected to a rod 27 controlled by a spring 28 and a nut 29, so that the valve parts may be retained at all times in assembled position. The casing 11 has a depending lug 30 in position to engage the arm 20 just before the lighter resumes its complete inversion, so that the comple tion of the inversion will move the arm 20 to close the valve.

I preferably arrange the valve compartment in a qua-drantal form such that the lighter will be enclosed within it from substantially the beginning of its turning movement. This prevents tampering with the device by removing the lighter while the valve is open to permit the liquid to escape from the reservoir. Moreover, the quadrantal shape makes it difficult to get access to the lever 20 to open the valve except in the normal way. This quadrantal valve cham-' ber is preferably of not much more than sufficient width to receive the width of the lighter. On this account. it is desirable that the. nipple 13 shall be arranged to make a liquid-tight joint regardless of the lie of the threads in the lighter. This may be readily accomplished by imposing upon the nipple a soft rubber gasket 31 capable of compression for more than one-half the pitch of the thread. The greater part of the machine is preferably of glass, or provided with glass windows, so that the operating mechanism is exposed to View.

In order to prevent the mischievous opening of the valve by the insertion of a pencil or the like article to engage the lever 20, there may be provided a locking bar 41 operated by the coin-control mechanism. bar normally. stands in the path of movement of the lever 20 but is operated from the coincontrol mechanism to be withdrawn from the pathway to permit the lever to be moved.

The machine is designed for coin-control and the coin-control. mechanism 5 is arranged to prevent the rotation of the handle 15, except upon the insertion of an appropriate coin, in the slot 40. Such coincontrol mechanisms, however, are all well known in the art and on that account the present disclosure is not encumbered with detailed construction. The reservoir 3 is preferably provided with a filling opening 42 closed by a cap 43.

The device as described makes an attractive display for a sign or the like and to this end there may be attached, at any convenient point, as for example at the front, a suitable plate 4.4 to carry advertising matter.

Since certain changes may be made in the above construction and different embodiments of the invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown the accompanying drawing shall, be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described, and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: 4

l. A device for filling cigar lighters and the like, including a reservoir, connections adapted to connect said reservoir to a lighter, means for controlling the flow of liquid through said connections operated'by the presence of the lighter.

2. A device for filling cigar lighters and the like, including a reservoir, connections between said reservoir and said lighter adapted to support said lighter above the level of the reservoir to permit any surplus liquid to redrain into the reservoir.

3. A device for filling cigar lighters and the like, including a reservoir, connections between said reservoir and said lighter adapted to support said lighter below the level of the reservoir to permit liquid to flow into said lighter.

4. A filler forcigar lighters and the like, including in combination a liquid reservoir,

This

means for connecting said reservoir to a cigar lighter including a nipple to which the cigar lighter may be attached, said nipple being movable from a position to support the lighter above the level of the reservoir to a position to support it below the level of the reservoir.

5. A filler for cigar lighters and the like, including, in combination, a liquid reservoir, neans forconnecting said reservoir to a cigar lighter including a nipple to which the ci lighter may be attached, said nipple being movable from a position to support the lighter above the level of the reservoir to a position to support it below the level of the reservoir, and a valve for admitting liquid to the lighter when it is below the level of the res ervoir.

6. A filler for cigar lighters and the like, including, in combination, a liquid reservoir, means for connecting said reservoir to a cigar lighter including a nipple to which the cigar. lighter may be attached, said nipple being movable from a position to support the lighter above the level of the reservoir to a position to support it below the level of the reservoir, and a valve for admitting liquid to the lighter when it is below the level of the reservoir, and means'for operating said valve controlled by the presence of the lighter.

7. A filler for cigar lighters and the like, including a reservoir for liquid, a support for a lighter or the like having a bore connected with said reservoir and means for closing said bore operable only by the presence of the lighter.

8. A filler for cigar lighters and the like including a reservoir, means for connecting said reservoir to the lighter, includinga nipple movable vertically with respect to said reservoir, whereby it may be brought below the level of the liquid to fill the lighteruntil the absorbent therein is saturated and may subsequently be lifted above the level of the reservoir, to drain of]? surplus liquid.

9. A filler for cigar lighters and the like,

including a reservoir, connections between in said reservoir, whereby said lighter ma be both above and below said liquid leve, means for controlling the flow of liquid from said reservoir, and means foropenino said controlling means when said lighter is below the liquid level and for closing said control means when the lighter is above the liquid level.

11. A filler for cigar lighters and the like, including a reservoir and means for connecting said reservoir to the lighter, including a threaded nipple adapted for connecting to the lighter, and means adjustable for more than one-half the pitch of the thread for making a liquid tight lighter supporting connection to said lighter while said lighter is turned through one-halt revolution.

12. A filler for cigar lighters and the like, including a reservoir adapted to contain a liquid, means adapted to connect said reservoir to a cigar lighter, and means for controlling the liow of liquid through said conneeting means, including a valve, adepending arm for operating said valve in position to encountered by said lighter to be moved thereby.

13. A filler tor cigar lighters and the like, including a reservoir for. a liquid, means adapted to connect said reservoir to a lighter, a valve for cont-rolling the communication between said reservoir and said lighter, including means for supporting the lighter (hiring movement above and below the liquid level, coin-operated means for controlling said movement and coin-operated means for locking said valve.

l-il. A filler for cigar lighters and the like which contain an absorbent medium, including, in combination, a reservoir for liquid, means to connect said reservoir with the lighter completely to fill the latter and to drain the said lighter of all unabsorbed liquid.

15. A filler for cigar lighters and the like containing an absorbent material including, in combination, a reservoir for liquid, flexible connection between said reservoir and said lighter including means adapted to project the lighter below and to raise it above the liquid level in the reservoir and valve control mechanism adapted to permit free passage of liquid to the lighter from the reservoir while the lighter is below the liquid level and to permit surplus liquid to drain back into the reservoir after the lighter is raised above the liquid level and means for closing the connection after said draining.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

ALEXANDER LEE WALLAU. 

